The Westgate Partnership - Retail Development - Oxford, Westgate
Date: 13 Sep 2004
The Westgate Partnership, a joint venture between Capital Shopping Centres and LaSalle Investment Management, has today (8 September 2004) submitted a proposed masterplan for the redevelopment and extension of the Westgate area of Oxford to the City Council.
Richard Cable, Property Development Director at Capital Shopping Centres, said: "The proposed masterplan sets out a strategy to provide improved and extended retail space as part of the wider regeneration of the Westgate area. It sets out a clear strategy to ensure any new development is integrated into the surrounding area and takes into account the City's history.
"It is the culmination of more than 12 months work on the part of The Westgate Partnership and its team of award-winning architects from Allies and Morrison and Building Design Partnership together with traffic, cost, planning, hydrology and services consultants, structural engineers and quantity surveyors."
In creating the proposed masterplan, the design team has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders including the public (via independently moderated focus groups), Oxford City Council, the County Council, the West End Steering Group, CABE, SEEDA, English Heritage and the Oxford Preservation Trust. Much of the feedback from these initial discussions has been incorporated into the proposals.
The proposed masterplan is not a planning application; the aim is to establish how the area should be developed before any detailed building design work is undertaken.
The proposed masterplan does not, therefore, define the architecture of the new Westgate. It proposes an overall format for redevelopment taking into account the city's historic urban fabric, current planning challenges and future aspirations. It considers how a new scheme can be integrated into the city centre and, in particular, how links with Oxford's West End can be maximised. It also addresses concerns about massing and permeability as well as trying to help the city provide improved systems for managing pedestrians and traffic.
Key features of the proposed masterplan include:
* the introduction of three east-west routes across the site - Penny Farthing Lane, Turn Again Lane and Abbey Lane - lined with shops, cafés and restaurants and providing pedestrian and cycle access across the site 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
* remodelling of the existing Westgate Centre to provide a single level covered shopping street running from Bonn Square to Turn Again Lane, progressing to a two-level galleried arcade leading to a full line John Lewis department store fronting Thames Street
* a series of individual buildings, each with its own distinctive character and featuring active frontages internally and externally;
* up to 50 shops and stores in a range of sizes including smaller units for independent retailers, as well as a number of cafés and restaurants;
* a new well-lit, secure, shopper-friendly multi-storey car park on Abbey Place;
* new public facilities such as Shopmobility, toilets, baby care, crèche and play area;
* well landscaped streets, generous pavements and plenty of places to sit and enjoy the city;
* more city centre housing;
* improved links between the city centre and the wider West End area;
* improved interaction between traffic and pedestrians.
The Westgate Partnership is inviting the City and County Councils, other local and national organisations and interest groups as well as the people of Oxford to comment on the proposed masterplan.
A summary of the proposals is set out in a newsletter that will be distributed widely throughout Oxford over the coming weeks. The same information will be on display in the mall at The Westgate Centre, where copies of the newsletter and a complete copy of the proposed masterplan document will also be available.
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